Florence
During the eighth century, the iconoclastic movement banned all sacred images located within the Byzantine empire, believing that the worshippers were venerating the actual images instead of the spiritual beings. However, this decision was permanently reversed by the following century, and the creation of icons dedicated to the Virgin Mary resumed with fervour.
Saint Luke Painting the Virgin
Rogier van der Weyden, c.1450
Oil on wood, 138 × 110 cm
Alte Pinakothek, Munich
Besides the Goddess Isis, statues or icons of other pagan goddesses were often reinter-preted as images of Mary during early Christianity. One of them was the ancient Greek earth goddess Demeter, who also had a child, Persephone, the resurrecting goddess of spring.
Madonna della Cintola
Benozzo Gozzoli, 1450-1452
Tempera on wood
Vatican Museum, Rome
Another such goddess was Artemis/Diana of the Greco-Roman world. Cybele, originally from the Near East, was also often viewed as an early version of Mary. Each of these goddesses had a long history of veneration. Complex rituals were performed to celebrate them and numerous temples were built in which to worship them.
Madonna and Child with Stories of the Life of Saint Anne (Bartolini Tondo)
Filippo Lippi, 1452
Tempera on wood, diameter: 135 cm
Pitti Palace Gallery, Florence
During these times the newly established patriarchal societies retained strong matriarchal components that were still firmly embedded within their structure. Women often therefore possessed considerable rights and powers. Consequently, the feminine spiritual powers were celebrated within their religious structures.
“The Death of the Virgin” Book of Hours of Etienne Chevalier
Jean Fouquet, 1452-1460
Illuminated Manuscript
Condé Museum, Chantilly
The divinities of both genders were worshipped within these societies with equal ardour and reverence. A number of these goddesses and gods from the religions of the ancient world later became very popular Christian saints, and many churches were dedicated to them.
The Annunciation
Leonardo da Vinci, c.1470
Oil and tempera on wood, 98 × 217 cm
Uffizi, Florence
Beneath the layers of goddess images and temples created by the artists of the pagan world, there is another, earlier layer of art that was produced by prehistoric men and women to celebrate their Mother God. Early images of the Great Goddess of Neolithic and Paleolithic Europe that survived the test of time, were often carved out of stone.
The Assumption of the Virgin
Matteo di Giovanni, c.1474
Tempera on wood, 331.5 × 174 cm
National Gallery, London
Marija Gimbutas, an archeologist and author of several volumes of texts on the history of prehistoric matriarchal cultures of Europe, describes in detail the societies that produced images of the Mother Goddess. These prehistoric social systems were matriarchal.
The Madonna of the Apocalypse
Jean Hey, 1480-1500
Oil on wood
Moulins’ Cathedral, France
The creator God was visualized in female form since people’s beliefs reflected a social order that was essentially organized and implemented by the women of these cultures.
An abundance of images that represent the oldest religious belief system of humanity has been unearthed and these images can be viewed at major museums around the world.
The Virgin and the Child
Sandro Botticelli, 1480
Painting on wood, 58 × 39.6 cm
Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan
The earliest of these images in Europe is considered to be the Venus or Goddess of Willendorf, and she is dated at around 35,000 BC. These prehistoric icons of the goddess are the most distant ancestors of Mary. Under the strictly patriarchal social order of the last two millennia, the role of the female gender was clearly defined as subservient and less valuable than the role of the male gender.
The Madonna Benois
Leonardo da Vinci, c.1480
Oil on canvas, 49.5 × 31.5 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Therefore, it was no longer possible to sustain the belief in a female divinity within the Christian dogma.
Yet the Madonna retained her occult divine status, often apparent through the symbolic messages incorporated into her iconography by the artists who created her icons.
The Annunciation
Lorenzo di Credi, 1480-1485
Oil on wood, 88 × 71 cm
Uffizi, Florence
For the last five centuries, as the Western world expanded its boundaries into the rest of the globe, many new temples dedicated to the Virgin Mary were built directly upon the sites of the old Mother Goddess temples of the indigenous cultures.
The Madonna of the Magnificat
Sandro Botticelli, 1481-1485
Tempera
